The edition statement follows the statement of responsibility on the title page of vol. 1

Printer's name from STC; rest of imprint from colophon

Each section with separate title page, register, and pagination. Title page of vol. 3 reads: The third volume of Chronicles, beginning at duke William the Norman, commonlie called the Conqueror ..

The censorship of this, the second edition of Holinshed's Chronicles, is extensively documented. Numerous leaves -- primarily in the third volume -- were cancelled (excised) and replaced with less politically sensitive versions of the missing passages contained therein. This process resulted in several irregular sequences of pagination. In vol. 2, a single leaf, paged 421 on the recto and 424 on the verso replaced pages 421-424. A leaf paged 438/431 replaced pages 433-436, two leaves paged 443/444 and 445/450 replaced pages 443-450. In vol. 3, four leaves, paged 1419/1420, 1421/1490, 1491/1536, and 1537/1538 replaced pages 1419-1538, and three leaves, paged 1551/1552, 1553/1554, and 1555/1574 replaced pages 1551-1574

Between 1723 and 1728, various publishing concerns produced at least three separate sets of facsimile reprints of the cancelled passages for sale to collectors who wished to "complete" their expurgated copies. For further information, see Maslen, K.I.D. "Three eighteenth-century reprints of the castrated sheets in Holinshed́s Chronicles." The Library. Vol. XIII, no.2 (1958), pp. 120-124

Signatures (vol. 1): A-Y⁶, ²A-R⁶.

Signatures (vol. 2): ³A-E⁶, ⁴A⁶(⁴A1+chi1) ⁴B-Q⁶ ³R², ⁵A-V⁶ 2A-2N⁶ 2O⁴ 2P⁶ 2Q⁶(-2Q3.4+'2Q3') 2R⁶(-2R3.4+'2R3') 2S⁶(-2S2.5+'2S2.3') 2T⁶, ⁶A⁶ ⁶B⁸ *⁶ ?⁸.

Signatures (vol. 3): ⁷A-V⁶ ²2A-2V⁶ 3A-3V⁶ 4A-4V⁶ 5A-5V⁶ 6A-6L⁶ 6M⁶(-6M3.4+'6M3') 6N-6T⁶ 6V⁶(-6V⁶+'6V1') 7A-7I⁶(-7A-7I⁶+'A,B,C,D,E'1,2,3) 7K⁶ 7L-7M⁶(-7L-7M⁶+7L²,7M1) 7N⁶ 7O⁴, ⁸C-G⁶.

Title page vignettes; head- and tailpieces; initials

The first and last leaves of vol. 1 (A1, ²R6) are blank, as is the last leaf of vol. 2 (?8). The leaf preceding the index in vol. 3 (7O4) and the last leaf of vol. 3 (⁸G6) are blank.

Includes indexes

Boston Public Library. Catalogue of the Barton Collection

English short title catalogue

Pollard, A.W. Short-title catalogue of books printed in England, Scotland, & Ireland and of English books printed abroad, 1475-1640 (2nd ed.)

Boston Public Library (Rare Books Department) copy bound in red, 19th-century morocco panelled and tooled in gilt. The spines are panelled and tooled in gilt with the title likewise stamped. The armorial bookplate of the Barton Library is present on the front pastedowns. A lengthy, erased inscription in a ca. 16th-/early 17th-century secretary hand is present on the colophon leaf (⁸G5).

Boston Public Library (Rare Books Department) copy contains numerous leaves from what Maslen identifies as the "Dr. Drake" facsimile reprint of 1728, identifiable by the extra signatures in the left side of their lower margins. These include sheets 2Q3.4 and 2S2.5, though the facsimile sheet 2R3.4 is not present. In vol. 3, Drake facsimile leaves A5, A6, and B1 are bound-in before the original A5-B1 sequence, and 78 Drake facsimile cancellanda, signed 6V⁶-7M⁶ and comprising the pagination sequence 1419-1574, are bound-in after the cancel signed "A,B,C,D,E". Eleven additional Drake leaves, beginning with ⁸F1, are bound-in between ⁸E6 and ⁸F1 in the index tables. In vol. 1 A3 (first sequence) is misbound after A4. In vol. 3 the title page is remargined and A2 is misbound after A4. The first (blank) leaf of vol. 1 (A1) is wanting, as are the two blank leaves in vol. 3 (7O4 and ⁸G6).

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